Two weapon style?

Nalim

Hi there,

does anybody still know the exact adjustments to hit rolls depending on your points invested in two weapon style (and whether you use a smaller weapon in your off-hand or not)? Neither the BG 2 player's handbook nor google could help me.

Thanks!

Awong124

There's a description of it on the screen where you allot points to proficiencies (either during character creation or level up). You just click on "Two Weapon Style" and the description will show up in the text box.

Tanthalas

Basically:

Nothing -> -4 THAC0 for main-hand, -8 THAC0 for off-hand

1 star -> -2 THAC0 for main-hand, -6 THAC0 for off-hand

2 stars -> -4 THAC0 for off-hand

3 stars -> -2 THAC0 for off-hand

Its doesn't matter what kind of one-handed weapon you're using.

moody_mage

In P&P 2nd Ed - your Dex modifier would negate your off-hand penalty if high enough. Not sure if it applies in BG though.

Nalim

So...assuming I'm using a dex 18 char with 2 points in two-weapon-style and two identical weapons I don't get a penalty for either weapon - nice. Thanks!

Tanthalas

@Nalim

In the BG games Dexterity doesn't affect melee weapon THAC0, only Strength does. And regardless, you still get a penalty since your off-hand will still have 4 less THAC0 than it would have if there was no penalty.

Nalim

@Tanthalas:
But doesn't the dex bonus offset the off-hand penalty? I'm absolutely positive it's this way in P&P D&D and I believed it was this way in BG 2, too?

Tanthalas

@Nalim

It isn't that way in BG2. Dexterity bonus for melee attacks sounds like a 3E thing. At least in IWD2 (that uses 3E) I know there's a feat that adds the Dexterity bonus to the attack bonus of melee weapons.

Dee

I believe it was a special case in AD&D, that a sufficiently high Dexterity score would allow you to (with training) wield two weapons with no penalty. This was not carried over into the Infinity Engine, and so it doesn't work that way in Baldur's Gate.

In 3E D&D, the Two-Weapon Fighting feat requires a Dexterity score of 15 or higher, which is a relic from AD&D. It also had different penalties depending on the size of the weapon you were wielding in your off-hand (a light weapon would reduce the penalty by 2, whether you had the feat or not, and the feat would reduce the penalty by another 2 and also reduce the off-hand penalty by 4, for a total of -4 for normal weapons, and -2 for a light off-hand weapon).

Nalim

@Tanthalas:
Well it's actually an AD&D thing - in the 'real' game, your penalty for dual wielding gets reduced by your dexterity bonus. I thought I read somewhere this was also the case in BG 2 (however, I never dual wielded in my orginal playthrough).

moody_mage

Yep, the PHB says this;

"When attacking, all characters but rangers suffer penalties to their attack rolls. Attacks
made with the main weapon suffer a -2 penalty, and attacks made with the second
weapon suffer a -4 penalty. The character's Reaction Adjustment (based on his Dexterity,
see Table 2) modifies this penalty. A low Dexterity score will worsen the character's
chance to hit with each attack. A high Dexterity can negate this particular penalty,
although it cannot result in a positive modifier on the attack rolls for either weapon (i.e.,
the Reaction Adjustment can, at best, raise the attack roll penalties to 0)."

Obviously BG enhanced this with TWF proficiency points which aren't accounted for in the above statement.

Nalim

Well ok, thanks for the clarification. Seems like I need those 2 specialization points at character creation and it seems like I might ask Drizzt for his scimitars ^^.

moody_mage

That's not to say it has been translated over into BG like that though...

Dee

If it has, it's not being displayed anywhere (your THAC0 is still worse for two-weapon fighting than single-weapon fighting).